The present invention relates to a new and distinct perennial variety of Vaccinium hybrid (Southern Highbush Blueberry), which has been given the variety denomination of ‘Ridley 4408’. Its market class is that of a fruiting plant. ‘Ridley 4408’ is intended for use as fresh fruit for shipping, customer pick and processing markets and as a home garden plant.
The new Vaccinium hybrid cultivar is a selection resulting from seedlings produced in a breeding programme of Vaccinium at Lindendale, NSW, Australia in August 2009 from the controlled pollination of seed parent ‘S01-15-01’ (unpatented) with pollen parent ‘C00-09’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 22,778). The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single plant, breeder code M11-44-08, within a population of 100 resulting Vaccinium hybrid plants from this controlled pollination in September 2011 in a commercial field plantation environment at Lindendale, New South Wales, Australia. It was monitored over the next three years with five inspections per year to confirm consistency of traits. Selection criteria were, in combination, suitability to machine harvesting of fresh fruit characterized by firm, round to slightly oblate shaped fruit that drop easily from the bush when shaken leaving the unripe fruit on the bush, medium plant growth vigor, low chilling requirement, early to medium time of flowering and fruit ripening, medium fruit size, medium to high yield, desirable tasting berries and small picking scar.
The selection was evaluated for a number of years at commercial farms at Lindendale, New South Wales, Australia.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cutting propagation since 2011 at Lindendale, New South Wales, Australia has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.